How is someone found to be incapacitated? Any person can file a petition with the court stating that they believe an individual to be incapacitated. The court then appoints an examining committee of three people to evaluate the individual and render an opinion of whether the person is, in fact, incapacitated. Usually, the committee consists of a doctor, a psychologist or RN and a social worker. If the committee determines the person is not incapacitated, the petition will be dismissed. If the person is found to be incapacitated, a hearing is held by the court to determine if the person is totally incapacitated or partially incapacitated. A guardian is usually appointed at the end of the hearing.
Attorney, Laurie Ohall, works with potential guardians to set up Florida guardianships whether it be for a minor child, an incapacitated adult, or a disabled adult child. Contact our Tampa guardianship law office for a free phone consultation today.
The guardianship is usually determined by the petitioner’s lawyer and the lawyer of individual who is considered incapacitated. This system is old and very open to abuse. My neighbor of 11 years mother took the daughter’s money for back payments from Social Security. The daughter retained a lawyer to get her money back. The mother used the Social Security money to hire a guardianship lawyer to gain guardianship of the daughter. My neighbor got a third of her money back but settle for limited guardianship if her sister would be the guardian. Now the sister does not want to be guardian and a hearing has been called for. The only lawyer that has been summoned is the mothers lawyer and he has 6000 dollars of my neighbor’s money. One of the few rights that were taken away was the right to sue. My neighbor has tried to retain a lawyer but being a ward of the guardianship court, she has been turned down. My neighbor is a nice caring and giving person. She has some bad experiences in here past that were found by the mother’s lawyer but has been taking her medications diligently for over 6 years. She has no problems taking care of herself but has a mean mother that prefers to take than give.